Having dinner at Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu’s residence during his visit to the AP, Union Home Minister Amit Shah unexpectedly inquired about the number of palaces for former CM YS Jaganmohan Reddy. Deputy Chief Minister Pawan Kalyan, Minister Lokesh, BJP state president Purandeshwari and others were present.
CM Chandrababu said that he has a big palace spread over six acres in Bengaluru. “Not six….. a total of 32 acres. He built a big palace in it. He also has a hundred rooms in his building in Hyderabad,” explained Minister Lokesh. Amit Shah was surprised to hear that it was 32 acres.
“As if these were not enough, he spent Rs. 500 crores of government money in Visakhapatnam to build huge buildings for his residence. The Green Tribunal imposed a fine of Rs. 200 crores on those structures, saying they were built against the rules,” said Chandrababu.
Has Jagan paid that money? Amit Shah asked. Chandrababu replied that he had not paid yet. “The Green Tribunal has become very powerful. In the past, when we built a building for tourists in Andaman, they imposed a huge fine like this. We talked about it several times and were able to reduce it somewhat. There is no other option but to pay the fine,” said Amit Shah, explaining his experience.
What is Jagan doing… are he roaming around?, Amit Shah asked. Lokesh commented that apart from making statements, he has not been doing much so far, and is only giving leaks that he is going to go on long trips. Meanwhile, CM Chandrababu has asked Amit Shah to give Bharat Ratna to TDP founder and former Chief Minister NTR.
Amit Shah commented that he is a person who must be given it. Purandeswari told him that she had also given a letter to him on the matter. Remembering Telugu Prime Minister PV Narasimha Rao, he asked how many times PV was made Chief Minister… for how long.
“He was the Chief Minister for only fifteen months. The Congress high command used to change Chief Ministers repeatedly at that time,” Chandrababu said. Amit Shah asked who was made the Chief Minister for the longest period on behalf of that party?
“YS Rajasekhara Reddy did it for six years. I remember Kasu Brahmananda Reddy did it for a little longer than him,” he said. Chandrababu thanked Amit Shah for the generous assistance provided by the Centre to revive the Visakhapatnam Steel Factory.
He explained to him the progress of the Amaravati capital construction and the Polavaram project. Chandrababu explained that Rayalaseema and North Andhra are very backward areas of the state and that the Polavaram- Banakacherla internal river linking project is very crucial to bring them on the path of development. He asked for assistance for this as part of the development of the backward areas.